Shades of My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, Anathema, Novembers Doom, and Swallow the Sun abound on Wordless Hope, the debut from France's Inborn Suffering. Littered with massive guitar riffs, pounding rhythms, and tortured death/doom growls, the bands initial offering on Sount Riot Records is a very solid listen from start to finish. The lead vocals of Frederique Simon really stand out here, as he not only can growl with the best of them, but he also has a commanding dark & gothic clean style as well, and mixes that in very well among the evil growls on the opening 11-minute epic "This is Who We Are". The majority of the songs here exceed six minutes, so there's plenty of drama being built up and slammed around, especially on the crushing melancholy of "Inborn Suffering" (some of the passages even sound like Celtic Frost circa Into the Pandemonium ), the keyboard laden tracks "The Agony Within" & "As I Close My Eyes", and the mostrous doom of "Stygian Darkness". The latter is a real powerhouse, and will certainly appeal to those who are also reaping the wonders of the latest Novembers Doom platter The Novella Reservoir. Of course, who doesn't love epic, atmospheric doom splattered with prog-rock styled keyboards, as on the lengthy "Thorn of Deceit", which also features some chilling ethereal female vocals for good measure.

Wordless Hope might not be the best or most original doom release you've ever heard, but it's damn good nontheless. The way they mix in the clean & growling vocals, permeate plenty of keyboards, and change up the tempos, makes for a very satisfying listen, and should make Inborn Suffering a band to watch.

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